Spent yesterday morning trying to convince a very unhappy goshawk to let me shove some red meat down its throat without taking my fingers off. I still have my fingers and he got some meat… the moral is never mess with an Italian who’s trying to feed you. God I love volunteering at Bird TLC!
What the hell is in the air this year?
I must once again whine about the horrendous allergy season I am experiencing here in Anchorage this year. This is the worse I’ve suffered since childhood. Even my dog is showing acute signs of allergies, almost sneezing herself onto her back legs trying to clear her little nostrils. So what government black op has dumped what almost undetectable poison in our air this year to test whether they can sap the will of the entire population by causing four months of non-stop sneezing and stuffed noses? For what it’s worth, you win. You’ve sapped my strength. I’ll tell you anything
There’s a scary silence on the land
It is the last silence we will be allowed before the presidential campaigns of all those monotonously boring people begin in ernest. Thank god for Ron Paul. At least he’s a refreshing breeze blowing through a deadly cloud of bullshit.
I was corresponding with a fan when…
…I was suddenly thrown into a flashback of the years in grade school where I memorized the entire catechism in order to compete in the diocesan-wide catechism memorization without comprehension annual contest. I could rattle off the questions and answers in the entire book almost without breaking to take a breath. But I didn’t have the faintest friggin’ idea what half of it meant.
Rick Perry
George Bush with dark hair? Or worse?
Funny things you can do to your dog
While she is sound asleep, hold a very special and smelly treat under her nose and watch while her nose slowly becomes aware of the odor and then she starts to twitch and finally the message hits her brain and she slowly lifts one eye, spies the treat at the end of her nose, sticks her tongue out and flicks the treat in her mouth, chews for a moment, closes her eyes and is back to sleep even as she executes her final swallow.
When a dog has a good life, he or she has a REALLY good life.
Celebrating an Alaskan summer
Termination dust is appearing on the mountains. I’ve had to close some windows in my house at night because it got so cold. And after a month long marathon, my last summer visitor just departed. This means winter is rapidly approaching. So before we get too far away from summer, let’s celebrate some of those things Alaskan that help us through this season of unbearable lightness and guests.
First and foremost, let us celebrate our state itself. There is a tendency to become complacent about the beauty and wildness that surrounds us. It sometimes takes summer guests to reawaken in
It’s raspberry time
The branches are hanging heavy with ripened raspberries. More than I can ever use. And so I pick and pick and pick and then freeze and freeze and freeze so that in the dark of winter, I’ll have a taste of the sun of summer.
Another reason cell phones will never be for me
I just spend two days with two friends who spent most of their time fussing with their cell phones. If they weren’t on them, they were showing each other how to program them or solving why the phone wasn’t doing what it was supposed to do or why calls weren’t showing up or…or… or… a million things that made fussing with those phones seem to be the bulk of their waking hours. Another reason I will do all in my power to die before I ever have to have one.
I used to envy MVP’s on airlines
After all, they got to board first and they got first crack at upgrades and… well, that’s about it but I still envied them. Now I just feel sorry for them because I realize that to become an MVP you actually have to fly a lot and nothing short of a guarantee of heaven and seventy hot studs waiting for me there would make that worthwhile.